How to Reclaim your Honor
by Jellyfish Jam
Summary: The Great Festival of Something is not so joyous when a strange, scary man beats Stoick in a duel and takes over the tribe.  And he then proceeds to change the tribe in many ways.  And worst off, he has a scary obsession with Hiccup! R&R.
1. The Festival

**How to Reclaim Your Honor**

**This is a story that I've been meaning to work on for a long time. Hopefully it doesn't suck too badly. If you've read **_**"How to Survive Your Opposites"**_** you'll recognize a certain someone.**

**Disclaimer: The only person I own is Slackjaw the Terrifying.**

**Chapter One: The Festival**

The Isle of Berk was a desolate, hard, tough old island that snowed most of the year. The Hooligan Viking Tribe that lived there were just as strong and stubborn as the land. But they were very loyal to their Chieftain, Stoick the Vast. His son, Hiccup, however, was a different story.

Some people, like Snotlout, could easily say that Hiccup was a failure at everything. Others, like Astrid would say otherwise. A lot of them would say that he was bad at almost everything. But that is not where our story begins.

Most of the time it was misery on Berk, made a bit more livable ever since Vikings had first befriended dragons. But once every five years, the Vikings had a huge two-week festival celebrating something in which they ate and played Viking games. They even celebrated with the neighbor tribe, the Bog-Burglars, for the Great Festival of Something.

"Why is it called that?" Fishlegs asked when Gobber the Belch told them about it.

"I don't know," Gobber admitted in a bored tone, indicating that he couldn't care less. "It's a festival to celebrate something, but we forgot what it was, so now it's just the Festival of Something."

"How creative," Snotlout sneered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Why don't we just call it the Festival of Eat-a-lot? That's basically all it is."

"Come on, it sounds like fun," Tuffnutt said uncertainly.

"It is fun," Gobber reassured him. "And there will be lots of prizes and honor and glory if win the games. Remember, you'll all be representing the entire tribe when the Bog-Burglars arrive so I want you all on your best Viking behavior when they get here."

All of the kids, Snotlout especially, perked up with excitement at the mention of honor and glory. Snotlout was determined to win all of these games so Astrid could see how much better he was than Hiccup. Hiccup, however, looked slightly horrified when Gobber mentioned their rival tribe.

"The Bog-Burglars are coming?" he asked nervously. Gobber sighed and turned to him.

"Yes, Hiccup," Gobber replied slowly. "They come every festival and it's not going to change this year."

Normally Hiccup wouldn't mind. He would actually be excited to see his old friend Camicazi, one of the very few people who accepted him. But he had finally gotten Astrid to like him. He didn't know how she would react to Camicazi. They were just friends, but Astrid was a bit on the jealous side. Hiccup learned that the hard way.

"Is there a problem?" Astrid asked, turning to him and cocking an eyebrow. Hiccup shivered.

"Uh, no, of course not," he muttered, not looking her in the eye. "I'm uh, really excited." Then he looked down at the ground and didn't say anything else. Astrid rolled her eyes and snapped back to attention.

"Now," Gobber continued, strolling up and down the line. "There will be many competitions that you'll be partaking in. There's the sword fighting competition, the dragon contests, and of course, my favorite, the food eating competition."

Astrid, Snotlout, and the twins all looked intrigued when Gobber mentioned the sword fighting competition. They all looked up at the mention of dragons.

"What about dragons?" Tuffnutt asked, stepping forward.

"Well, it used to be a competition to see who could kill the dragon," Gobber explained. "But we're trying something new this year, since we no longer do that sort of thing."

Just then, they heard a horn blow in the distance. Gobber smiled and turned to his students.

"It seems the Bog-Burglars have arrived," he said in an ominous voice. "Let's go down and greet them." The kids nodded and slowly started marching in single file towards the beach where several Viking ships were arriving on the scene.

The first one off the ship was a large woman called Big-Boobied Bertha, chief of the Bog-Burglar tribe. She was a large, imposing woman who held herself up with dignity. When she saw Stoick coming down the beach to greet her, she let out a tremendous grin.

"Ah, Stoick!" she called, spreading her arms wide open. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Same here," Stoick replied as she gave him a hearty slap on the back. "I trust you've been having weather than we have?"

As the two chiefs exchanged pleasantries, the two tribes started mingling together, looking for and greeting old friends. Hiccup barely had time to turn his head before he was tackled from the side by a small, skinny blonde girl. He was then trapped in her scrawny arms, barely able to breathe as she squeezed the life out of him.

"Hiccup!" she exclaimed happily. "It feels like we haven't seen each other since forever!"

"It's great to see you too, Camicazi," Hiccup gasped, unable to free himself.

"I heard you were the one who solved the dragon problem," Camicazi noted, refusing to release him. "And then you lost your leg! That is so awesome! I knew you'd amount to something someday!"

"Thanks, Camicazi," Hiccup replied, giving up on trying to escape from her grip. "Has the Bog-Burglars started training dragons too?"

"Yes actually. In fact we…"

She didn't get to finish that sentence because at that moment, Astrid came striding over to them. Hiccup's heart sank when he saw the look on her face. This wasn't how he wanted Astrid and Camicazi to meet. It was really kind of awkward, standing there in Camicazi's arms with Astrid glaring at him accusingly.

"Hiccup, who is this and why are you in her arms?" Astrid asked in the calmest voice she could muster. Hiccup tried to pull himself free but failed as Camicazi smiled pleasantly at Astrid.

"Um, Astrid, this is my good friend Camicazi," he introduced her awkwardly. "Camicazi, this is my, er, girlfriend, Astrid."

"Pleased to meet you," Camicazi greeted, letting go of Hiccup long enough to seize Astrid's hand and pump it up and down. "Hiccup's told me a lot about you! So you two are dating now? That's so neat! I thought it was cute how he said he always had this crush on you and…"

"So, Camicazi," Hiccup interrupted before she could embarrass him further. "You said your tribe is training dragons too?"

"That's right," she replied, nodding. "We don't have anything too big, like the Monstrous Nightmares, but we do have some awesome dragons, nonetheless."

"Oh really?" Astrid replied, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Camicazi replied with a huge smile. "Are you guys going to do the sword fighting competition? I know I am!"

"Of course we are," Astrid replied before Hiccup could speak, gripping his arm so he couldn't get away. "I'm planning on winning this thing too."

Camicazi giggled. "Sorry, but you'll have to beat me first," she told her. "Not likely."

Hiccup flinched at the look in Astrid's eyes as she gripped his arm tighter, trying to control her temper.

"Well, we'll be looking forward to a nice, pleasant fight, now won't we?" Hiccup said quickly before Astrid could speak. "Hey look! There's Fishlegs! Why don't you go say hi? I'm sure he'd be happy to see you again."

And as Camicazi managed to reply "Um, Ok," Hiccup quickly took her shoulders and nudged her in Fishlegs' direction. With a sigh, he turned back to Astrid, who was staring at him impatiently. He gulped.

"Ok, I know what you're thinking," Hiccup started, putting his hands up defensively. "But Camicazi and I are just friends. We met at the last festival and she was the only one who would talk to me! But we're nothing more than that. Trust me."

Astrid let out a long sigh, letting her shoulders relax. "Fine," she replied. "I believe you."

Hiccup barely had time to sigh with relief before Astrid took his arm again and started dragging him to meet the rest of the Bog Burglar tribe.

Back in the village, there was one man who was not with the rest of the tribe. He stood glaring down at the beach with hatred. And he was plotting. Plotting his revenge. And pretty soon, he would have it.

**What do you think so far? Hate it? Love it? Did you barf? Tell me what you think! If you don't review, I can't write. So please read and review.**


	2. High Tension

**How to Reclaim your Honor**

**Wow, people really like this story so far! I guess that means it's time to update! You know, before you come and burn my house down! Fortunately, I have a five day weekend and lots of homework, so that's plenty of time to update. Today we move forward and find out more about what's going to happen. Enjoy.**

**Chapter two: High Tension**

The next day was a rare bright and cheerful one. The starting festival banquet was in full swing. But Hiccup and the others weren't experiencing any of it. Instead, they were standing in a row, listening to Gobber lecture. Again.

"Even though there is a festival going on does not mean you can skimp out on training," he explained. "Nobody wants to be made a laughingstock in front of the entire tribe during the sword fighting tournament. Today, we'll work on sword fighting, then move to fighting on your dragons." The children looked at each other excitedly. At least most of them were. Fishlegs looked deathly nervous. "Y'see, one of the contests, we decided, is going to be sword fighting while riding on dragons. You're going to need to train hard if you don't want to embarrass yerselves."

"Wait a minute," Snotlout interrupted, stepping forward. "You wait until now to bring this up? I mean, I'm awesome at sword fighting and dragon riding, but together? On such short notice?"

"Eh, keep yer pants on," Gobber replied, waving a dismissive hand. "That's the final event. We've got two weeks to train! Now, let's get to work."

He then paired the group into pairs to face off. He paired poor nervous Fishlegs with mean, brutal Snotlout who looked like he had no intention of going easy on Fishlegs. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were paired together. The twins smiled evilly at each other as he called their names. And that just left Hiccup with Astrid.

Hiccup gulped and glanced nervously at her, but her expression was unreadable as she slowly approached him. They stepped into their own sparing arenas and Hiccup tried not to let his hand shake as he drew his sword. The boy was pretty confident with his sword skills, but he was no match for Astrid. Especially if she was still bitter about Camicazi.

As soon as Gobber blew the whistle that he seemingly got out of nowhere, Astrid rushed at Hiccup and tackled him to the ground. Hiccup barely had enough time to raise his sword to block Astrid's sword that came crashing down on him. Her relentless attacks didn't stop there, and it was all Hiccup could do to dodge and block her vicious attacks. Something told him that she was still bitter about Camicazi.

Half way through the "fight" something suddenly made Hiccup freeze. A piercing stare cut through his skin and chilled his blood. Everything seemed to slow down as Hiccup looked around, his heart pounding in his ears. Someone was watching him from the shadows. Someone sinister.

Something in the distance gleamed. An angry pair of eyes bore into Hiccup's own eyes until suddenly he gave a gasp and collapsed on the ground. Astrid barely had enough time to halt before she could trip over him.

…

Hiccup woke hours later in his own room, his head spinning. He opened his eyes to see Toothless, Astrid, and his father sitting by his bed and staring at him with worry. They all sighed in relief when he blinked open his eyes. He groaned and slowly sat up.

"Ugh, what happened?" he asked, holding the side of his head.

"You just collapsed in the middle of dragon training," Astrid explained, still looking quite worried. "I didn't think I hit you that hard."

"_It looked to me like you were staring off into space before you fainted,"_ Toothless told him matter-of-factly. _"Dragons pick up on those sort of things."_

"What happened anyways, Hiccup?" Stoick asked seriously.

That was a good question. Hiccup couldn't remember exactly what had happened. All he remembered was the feeling he had that something was watching him. When he tried to see what was staring at him, he fainted. But he didn't want to worry his father, or Toothless and Astrid. They were already too overprotective of him already.

"It must have been the heat," Hiccup lied, looking down at the bed to avoid eye contact. Astrid and Toothless glanced at each other. They both knew that it wasn't just the heat. "But I'm better now," he continued, pulling the covers off and sitting up. "You don't have to worry anymore."

He stood and slowly shuffled to the door. Toothless quickly leaped over to his side and followed him out of his house. Hiccup put a hand on the dragon's side and squinted against the sunlight.

"_It wasn't just the heat, was it?"_ Toothless asked as they started off.

"_Of course not,"_ Hiccup replied, making his way down the hill. _"I need to see something." _They stopped at a house that was sitting just outside the village. It was a sinister little hut, even the air around it was shrouded with the feeling of darkness. It was around here that Hiccup was looking when he fainted.

"Looking for something?" a high pitched, sinister sounding voice asked from behind them. Hiccup's skin crawled as he and Toothless turned to confront the owner of the voice. Hiccup tried not to gasp as his eyes lay upon the speaker. He was a strange looking old man, shorter than Hiccup, but much older. His appearance resembled that of a vulture with a hooked nose, hunched back, and a protruding lower jaw. The strangest feature of this man was his neck, which wobbled back and forward, seeming to lack any bone whatsoever.

"Uh," was all Hiccup could manage to say. This man was disturbing, especially in the way he stood unusually close to Hiccup and glared up at him through squinted yellow eyes. "I was just curious to what was over here."

"You're Stoick's boy, are you?" the vulture man guessed in his high pitched voice. "Such an honor for you to visit little ol' Slackjaw." There was a sinister way that he stretched out his words that made Hiccup shiver. He was really uncomfortable with the way Slackjaw stared at him.

"Are you a Hooligan?" Hiccup asked cautiously. He had certainly never seen him before, not even at his dad's tribe meetings.

"Of course I am," the vulture man replied with a slight snarl, his pure yellow eyes flashing. "I prefer to stay in my hut though. Not much of a people person. Nobody ever bothers visiting poor Slackjaw."

"_I'll bet,"_ Toothless commented, causing Hiccup to glare at him. "_He's never seen the light of day."_

Hiccup was about to respond, but was interrupted by the approach of Stoick, looking as jolly as ever. He spotted Hiccup and started making his way over to his son.

"There you are, Hiccup," he greeted. "I see you've met Slackjaw the Terrifying." He patted the strange man hard on the back to emphasize his point, sending him nearly flying to the ground. "Yup. Slackjaw here has been the village weirdo for as long as anyone can remember.

"How kind of you to say so, Stoick," Slackjaw replied, visibly struggling to keep a straight face. "I was just getting acquainted with young Hiccup here." His creepy yellow eyes rested on him again and Hiccup tried not to flinch. "When I saw you last, you were a tiny, tiny thing."

Hiccup tried to smile, but failed. He had been watching him since he was a child. For some reason that seemed to frighten Hiccup.

_He's a dangerous man,_ Hiccup thought to himself, struggling not to look Slackjaw in the eye.

"So, are ya coming to the dance there, Slackjaw?" Stoick asked suddenly, snapping Hiccup out of his thoughts. He looked up a his father with surprise.

"What dance?" he asked Stoick. The chief blinked at him.

"Don't you know about the Great Viking Dance?" Stoick asked. "It's one of the biggest events of the festival. As the son of the chief of the tribe, you have to go." Hiccup groaned in despair. "Didn't Gobber tell you?" His son shook his head.

"Gobber never tells us anything," Hiccup replied. Slackjaw took a slight step closer to Hiccup.

"I might take you up on that offer, Stoick," he hissed. "Wouldn't want to step out on Viking tradition, now would we?" And I particularly look forward to seeing young Hiccup there as well."

Hiccup felt himself shiver as Slackjaw caught him in his gaze. Wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible, Hiccup quickly excused himself, stating that he wanted to go see where Fishlegs had run off to. But even after he was long out of Slackjaw's sight, he could still feel his yellow gaze pierce through his skin and freeze his heart.

He didn't know how he could tell, nor did he know why, but Hiccup knew in his heart that for some reason Slackjaw wanted him dead.

**Ooh! Bone chilling to the core! Just who is Slackjaw the Terrifying? Why does he want to kill Hiccup? And why are his yellow eyes so hypnotizing when it's his neck that's so funny looking? And that's another thing? Why is he so funny looking? Well, I'll tell you only if read and review. Because otherwise, you'll never find out!**


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